Thursday

Sixth-seeded L-S may have fallen 4-1 to defending Div. 1 state champion and rival and fifth-seed Acton-Boxboro on Wednesday, but Hyer was beyond thrilled to just play in the postseason,

LEXINGTON – Emily Hyer didn’t get to experience postseason play in her first three years on the Lincoln-Sudbury girls tennis team.

Hyer mentioned that when she was a freshman, the program was considered "kind of a joke" compared to other L-S sports teams. But beginning her sophomore year, that notion went out the window in hopes that the team would start being taken more seriously around both the school and the Dual County League.

It may have taken until this season, but the Warriors have undoubtedly put themselves on the map. Not only did L-S make the postseason this year, but the Warriors made it all the way to Wednesday’s Division 1 North final.

Sixth-seeded L-S may have fallen 4-1 to defending Div. 1 state champion and rival and fifth-seed Acton-Boxboro at the Lexington High courts, but Hyer was beyond thrilled to just play in the postseason, not to mention make it as far as her team did.

"We’ve worked super hard all year and this is the first time in my years that we’ve made the tournament," said Hyer, the lone senior and captain of the Warriors. "So making the postseason and getting all the way to the sectional finals is such a big deal for us in the first place. So, I was ecstatic to even be in the first round, let alone be all the way in the sectional finals. I’m just happy to be here regardless of the score.

"But the team has changed so much since I was a freshman. The past two or three years, we’ve worked so hard to make it more of a real sport at L-S and I think we’ve done that."

A-B (14-3) moves on to meet South champion Wellesley in the state semifinals on Monday (location, time TBD).

L-S, meanwhile, finishes up its campaign 11-6 and fourth-year coach Salim Chraibi couldn’t have been happier for his group of girls.

"I’m actually really happy right now and I’m extremely proud of these girls," he said. "All the credit goes to them because of the effort they put in all season long. They worked hard every day and they competed hard every match, even against teams we usually lose to. This year, we beat some of those teams, and that was the difference. Their desire to compete and their desire to win. They did awesome."

The Warriors showed up to the match sporting blue and red face paint, something they regularly started doing toward the end of the regular season.

With only seven girls on the team – meaning they have no backups – L-S really bought into being a family. Part of considering themselves a family meant bonding together and building team chemistry. And so, they saw team spirit as a way of helping build that bond even more, hence the face paint.

Even Chraibi was sporting the face paint, which is applied to all team members (and the coach in this case) by sophomore third singles player Kate Solowey.

"Spirit’s fun and we wear it on spirit days at school," Solowey said. "Coach was down for it and asked for me to paint his face today, which is super awesome."

"It’s kind of hard to have spirit as a tennis team because it’s so individual," added Hyer. "We’re split up on courts and sometimes, can’t see each other. But having things to do on the bus, like facepainting, and before matches makes it even more fun and brings us together."

Both doubles teams gave A-B a 2-0 lead overall in the match. The Colonials first doubles team of Lindsay Ristaino and Anjana Srvistava actually won the final five games in the second set after being down 5-2 to win 6-0, 7-5.

Niki Surapamenini clinched the win for A-B with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over Solowey before Saanvi Vutukur grabbed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over freshman Ella Chase at second singles.

Freshman sensation Maddie Swire earned L-S a point with a 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 win over Ashleigh Parlman at first singles.

"We came into today with the attitude that we have nothing to lose knowing they’re the defending state champs," Hyer said. "Today was an opportunity to play them again, get better, and just have fun doing so."

"We just wanted to have fun with it all and try our best," Solowey said. "I think we did. We had fun, worked hard, and did our best."

The future looks bright for the Warriors.

Of the seven girls on the team, five are underclassmen and six will return as starters. Furthermore, the top two singles players – Swire and Chase – were both freshmen this year.

"We have almost our whole team coming back," Solowey said. "So I think as long as we continue to work hard and keep the work ethic up, we’ll have an amazing future ahead of us."